


This wasn't part of the plan

by tia_dreamer



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Blackjack is awesome, Camp Half-Blood (Percy Jackson), Crack, Fix-It, M/M, Oops, Oops., Past Annabeth Chase/Percy Jackson, Percy Swears, Protective Percy, Puberty, Sassy Percy Jackson, Slash, Slow Burn, The Fates are probably the only ones' having fun the whole time, Time Travel, Time Travel Fix-It, Well - Freeform, bi percy, crack taken somewhat seriously, even if you are mentally 20, everyone's plans get ruined, exasperated percy is exasperated, grover is confused-er, i feel like i've put to much on my plate with these tags, it is all luke's fault, luke gets steamrolled, luke is oblivious, lukercy - Freeform, lukercy endgame, lukercy/puke/lercy, no one has a clue, no really, not really - Freeform, percy DOES NOT like puberty, percy extracts some payback for stuff that hasn't happened yet, percy has a bit of a clue, percy is crushing, percy is going to misuse his powers as waterguns, percy is older than he looks, percy is pining, percy is probably going to go diving, percy is twenty and then he's eleven but still twenty, percy jackson has taken over my life, percy messes up the whole timeline, percy wants to fix everything, poseidon is confused, the fates hate percy, the fates just use percy as an entertainment programme, this is an unorganised mess of tags, this wont be all that long, well actually its lukercy all the way through, why is no one calling them out on it, you shouldn't swear if you look like an eleven-year-old
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-07-10
Updated: 2018-08-23
Packaged: 2019-06-08 11:19:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15242223
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tia_dreamer/pseuds/tia_dreamer
Summary: ... but Percy isn't going to look the gift-pegasus in the mouth, as it stands. A chance to get everything right? Percy is sure it's going to cost him A LOT of nerves, but he's actually kind of happy to get a do-over. And if he get's to mess with just about anyone's plans AND save people (And Luke) from death? He'll even manage a second puberty. And being 20 and 11 at the same time. And seeing Luke again.No big deal?Hopefully...[Time-Travel | Fix-It | Lukercy](Percy is physically going to be at LEAST 18 before anything romantic happens!)Disclaimer: with what’s happened to Luke in canon, do you think this franchise is mine? ... Didn’t think so.





	1. A new dawn (Gods that’s cheesy)

Perseus Jackson, Demigod Hero and sometime walking disaster, opened his eyes to stare at a plastic ceiling, vaguely familiar in the way of forgotten memories that sometimes resurfaced.

He remembered staring out at the sea after driving there from his mom‘s house, bitter after breaking up with Annabeth (finally). His mum just had to bake blue cookies and invited him to stay the night. But no one would have been there - mum and Paul had wanted to go on a short trip while Stella was at her ‚bestest friend evereverever‘s‘ family - and the house made him uncomfortable. It didn’t feel quite like home, and so he‘d sat at the table while mum fussed over him and baked and packed overnight bags until Paul came home. Then he‘d gotten into his car, kissed his mother goodbye and driven nonstop until he could park the car at the beach.

He had sat in the sand for ages, waves lapping at his feet and trying to make sense of everything. He had wished he could redo everything. He had wished he could have known what was coming. He had wished he had thought more about his actions during his quests. He had wished he could have told Luke.

He was pretty sure he’d fallen asleep at the beach.

At that, Percy sat up, eyes darting around and taking in the tiny room - the tiny dorm he was in. This was Yancy.

A shiver ran down his spine.

This was _Yancy_.

He wanted to be shocked, really, _he was_ , but more than that he was exasperated. Shit always did happen to him, didn’t it? What had Nico called it once when they had had one of their reunion parties? The Fates‘ favourite punching bag?

And here he had thought he was done with these big, life-changing experiences.

The sigh pretty much forced itself out of him. Wonderful. If this was a vision or one of those ‚you’ve got a job’-dreams he didn’t even want to know why his old school played a part. Had it been a god‘s home once? Was there some sort of prison underneath? Or maybe Aphrodite was miffed at him for breaking it up with Annabeth? Was this a warning? Or maybe a… Percy didn’t have a clue.

Agitatedly, he scrubbed a hand over his face and looked around the room.

His at that point brand-new, if cheap, suitcase was on the floor, opened, as if he hadn’t had the energy to sort the stuff into his closet yet. And there was a plastic folder on the tiny desk. He didn't remember that, did he? Percy swung his legs out of the bed, only to pause at his blue-pyjama clad legs. Stick-like. Thin.

Short.

Usually, he was his normal self in visions and all that. But this didn’t feel like a vision. Not even close. Fuck. Something was going spectacularly wrong, even for him.

For some reason, that made Percy laugh. Yeah, no. If he was back in time, that was exactly the kind of situation he got himself into on a weekly basis. His typical luck, improbably as it was.

He walked over to the desk, almost stumbling over his own legs. (Gods, they were short. And uncoordinated) The folder was the ‘welcome folder’ of Yancy Academy, proudly proclaiming its use on the front page. It was the folder he had lost (read: let fall into the loo) on his first day at Yancy’s after helping Grover out of a situation involving that Nancy what’s-her-face. Right, he had really wanted to forget that situation.

Percy stopped short at that, his hand sliding through his (not long enough, Annabeth had convinced him to try and grow it out) hair.

Grover.

This was the first day. He’d definitely meet Grover.

And Percy was tiny, eleven years old and he was not supposed to know anything about … anything.

The fates had to _hate_ him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Right... so Lukercy just took over my life and I've never written a multi-chapter before. It is CampNaNoWriMo though, so I'm hoping I'll do ok.  
> This is also not going to be too long, even with as many things I want to include, since it really is a fix-it and I'm going to trample all over canon. And then I'm going prank Luke and all the gods.  
> If you enjoyed it I'm glad. Thank you for reading!


	2. Percy tries to plan stuff. Tries.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is planning. And Percy makes a good first impression by worrying.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alternative summary: In which Percy tries to plan and thoughts get sidetracked and nothing really happens.  
> (Is it a filler? It’s probably a filler. But I can’t see Percy not try and worry about what he could do so... I hope I didn’t get too much OOC? He’s twenty, not twelve or sixteen anymore.)  
> Enjoy!

It said a lot about Annabeth’s influence when Percy, instead of doing something completely impulsive, forced himself through a quick morning routine (and okay, not having to shave was pretty nice, even if it didn’t make the whole thing less weird.) and then sat down to write a list.  
Percy wasn’t good with them, he wasn’t even good with writing shopping lists, but this was important. There was a lot of stuff going to happen, some of which he could prevent completely while other stuff he would have to deal with sooner rather than later.  
And then there were people he couldn’t just leave as they were right now. Nico and Bianca in that casino, Thalia as a tree... calypso. And of course, Percy had no clue when Kronos had gotten his claws into Luke. Then there was the whole Camp Jupiter and Octavian. New Rome. He want even sure how to start fixing that. After all, it had started with the gods and he couldn't really influence that… but maybe they could build relations before? And Gaea. They needed to be prepared. Even though with Kronos almost on the loose, he probably shouldn't worry about that now. Percy frowned at the few bullet points he had:  
⁃ save Bianca&Nico  
⁃ Get the GoldenFleece for Thalia  
⁃ Calypso??  
⁃ Make sure Luke stays.  
⁃ what about the labyrinth?  
⁃ Keep Kronos from rising.  
⁃ Introduce Camp half-blood and Jupiter.  
⁃ dont fall into tartaros.  
⁃ Do something about Octavian.  
⁃ Rachel.  
⁃ Gaea 

As far as plans went, that didn’t work. Those were goals, not plans. Maybe he should start... chronologically.  
He had to get to Camp Half-Blood.  
He had to befriend Grover.  
And he needed Grover to have the opportunity to become a searcher. Maybe... Nico and Bianca. But they were on the other side of the continent. But that would give that council a wake-up call regarding Grover... and not another failure like the one of Percy’s own arrival.  
But he needed to get to Camp fast too... He needed to bring Luke back to their side.  
Could he leave them there? They were safe as they could be, and probably about as old as he was physically. He didn’t want to leave them, though. And, really, could he count on getting out of camp anytime soon? Maybe he wouldn’t even see his mother for ages...  
His mum. Percy cursed. His mum was still with Gabe. His mother still got hit by that horrible waste of, of... The pencil in his hand broke.  
Percy chucked it under the desk, kind of sure there would have to be a bin somewhere. It hit something metallic. Bingo.  
Still. Having Gabe turn into a stone figure had been a brilliant revenge last time. Could he do that again this time? He’d need medusa‘s head for that.  
A knock on the door made him swivel around in the chair, hand going to his Jeans pocket in search of riptide, but he stilled after grasping at empty air.  
Not that he needed it then. A man stood in the doorway, middle aged and somewhat defeated looking and completely human. Right. There was a wake up call where teachers went around to make sure everybody got up on time. The man, and Percy was sure he must have known him, but he didn’t remember him at all, looked at him appraisingly and, if Percy wasn’t mistaken, also faintly surprised.  
„Good Morning Mr. Jackson.“  
Percy forced a smile on his face. „Morning, sir.“  
A hint of a smile appeared.  
„Very nice to see someone already up and about,“ his eyes went to Percy‘s college block, „and already being productive. Very good, Mr. Jackson. I did not expect that.“  
It sounded condescending. But, and for once Percy was somewhat glad of it, dealing with gods all the time had tempered his snark at least somewhat. So instead of remarking in any way he just smiled. The teacher stepped out of the door.  
„Breakfast will be in three quarters of an hour. You’ll find your way there, please.“ he turned away and let the door fall shut.  
Percy‘s hand clenched into the empty fabric of his jeans. People were watching him. And he didn’t have riptide. Grover didn’t even know him. So Chiron wouldn’t be here.  
He had nothing right now. No money, no drachmas and nothing to defend himself with. His gaze fell onto the wall. Well, apart from water-pipes.  
He turned back to his list. Where was he? Right. Medusa’s head. She lived in that stone-graveyard. Somewhere... not to far from here. What was that called? Auntie Medusa’s? No, auntie Em something something. He could probably look that up online... or not. Did they have computers here? He wasn’t sure he had time for that, he mostly just wanted to get on with it. See Luke alive.  
With a sigh, he took out another pen.  
No, he couldn’t take a detour to Bianca and Nico now. But he needed Gabe gone. And maybe Medusa would also have a weapon lying around. Killing her in her sleep would be ideal, but she would probably hear him. Or smell him.  
Percy froze. Gods, of course. He had to already be broadcasting his presence all over.  
If he was lucky, Gabe‘s stink would at least cover him for now since he had probably been in his vicinity for a while before coming to Yancy... He couldn’t count on it.  
It also meant Grover would know something was up. Percy stared at the bullet points and shrugged. The T-Shirt he’d thrown on felt stiff and scratchy, probably both new and cheap, and Percy already missed his well-worn Camp Half-Blood T-Shirts. And his beads. He still wore them pretty often in New Rome.  
Well, he’d meet Grover today one way or another. That wouldn’t be the problem. The problem would be getting out of here and getting to Medusa’s.  
Maybe Grover would have an idea... and after they’d have to go straight to camp. Percy felt a bit queasy at the thought. The oracle was still... there. As a corpse. And he’d so hoped to never see something as creepy as that ever again. And Ms. Castellan was also still alone and without any help. The labyrinth was there. Calypso. Other’s too, from Camp Jupiter. He’d see so many that hadn’t yet fought and suffered and been hurt... no one had the same experiences as he.  
That was more than unsettling, if Percy was being honest.  
But he wanted to see all of them. Even Clarisse, weirdly enough, if that meant he’d have the whole first time camp situation back.  
He leant back against the chair and his eyes wandered to the clock. If he wasn’t mistaken, this would be about five minutes before everybody went to breakfast. So he might as well get that over with.  
And really, he had a lot of experience on his 11 year old self. He knew his stuff. And hades wasn’t on his case to get the lightening bolt, so he might just have a rather uneventful first trip to camp  
He didn’t count on it, but the possibility was there. That was more than he could usually say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here we go. Second (filler-y) chapter.  
> I hope you liked it well enough - even though I personally am not quite sure about it. The next chapter has a bit more action (read: Percy extracts his first revenge) and since this is the second Tuesday I’ve posted, the next chapter is probably going out on Tuesday as well.  
> See you then!  
> Tia


	3. Tiny Grover is Tiny

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Percy actually manages a non-destructive day. Grover is bad at explaining at Percy learned stuff from watching Annabeth. 
> 
> Disclaimer: still not mine. Sadly. But it’s probably better that way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ... I’m posting this on my phone, so there is very little spellchecking going on atm. I’ll get to that as soon as I can (meaning: as soon as my laptop works again)

Breakfast was uneventful, school less of a chore than he had thought. Really, Percy had 6 more years of schooling on the idiots here plus two years at uni. Writing down the curriculum wasn’t hard. And that was about all they did, since he didn’t pay attention to the whole ‚introduction‘ thing.  
As the fates would have it - and Percy was almost sure that that was part of the whole problem - he did meet Grover the same way: walking into a side corridor and coming face to face with Nancy towering over tiny Grover.  
For a moment he was almost stunned.  
Grover was tiny.  
Percy had completely forgotten that Grover had looked ever so slight next to him, and that was almost unbelievable since he remembered walking in on Grover and Juniper about two weeks ago. Well, he was walking into the forest. Not into their room. But that apparently made no difference.  
This Grover though wasn’t yet the one who dragged his nymph into the next bush. He was small and probably guilt riddled and Percy had to clench his fists so as not to go for the throat of the girl who dared raise her fist against his friend.  
Instead, he lashed out with a kick from behind at the girl. He didn’t even pause as she fell to the floor, and grabbed Grovers hand.  
„Come on,“ he urged even as he started pulling the satyr along with him, „let’s hide before her tiny brain catches up!“  
Apparently Grover owned the deer in headlights look. If Percy wasn’t so sure they’d have to have an awkward talk as soon as they were safe, he might have laughed.  
He pulled Grover into the boy‘s bathroom, breathing hard because damn, he had no stamina as an 11 year old, and grinned at his best friend.  
„Hi!“  
„What-?“ Big eyes stared at Percy. The look in them was so flabbergasted that Percy‘s grin got even wider. He just got one over his schoolyard-bully and he hadn’t even gotten into trouble yet. He stuck his hand out.  
“I’m Percy!”  
“I-I’m Grover.” Grover clasped his hand, then seemed to get a grip on himself again. “Thank you.”  
The look in Grovers eyes turned searching, staring at Percy in a way Percy remembered from the first time meeting him. Before, he hadn’t thought about it, but this totally was the look Grover got when he smelled something curious.  
Great, so Percy really was broadcasting.  
He settled for a smile, trying, and probably failing, to appear totally innocent.  
“It’s no problem. That girl was pretty horrid this morning too. I don’t like bullies.”  
A nod and a smile were his answer. Grover also seemed to want to say something, when the door was flung open. Both he and Percy spun around to face the door. Nancy stood in the bathroom entrance , very much like the villain in some cheesy movie.  
“Jackson!”  
Percy wondered how he had already gotten onto her radar.  
“I didn’t know she had enough brain cells to remember my name,” he mumbled into Grovers direction, who looked at him a bit like he didn’t know whether or not to call for a psychologist. Or, maybe not. Did Grover know what a psychologist was? He was kind of sure there had never been anything done at camp to look after the mental health of the demigods... maybe if there were, Luke wouldn’t have felt like he had to bring down a whole civilisation?  
When he saw a fist swing towards his face, Percy sidestepped and decided what the hell.  
He felt for the water pipes and with a tiny pull of powers that felt... well, the best way to describe it was shaky, he watched as one of the taps burst and water under quite a bit of pressure (courtesy of himself) hit the girl straight in the face, making her fall down. He directed the water to follow said movement, committed the picture she made to memory and bit his lip to keep from smiling.  
Grober squeaked.  
„What did you do?“  
Percy looked down at the somewhat stupefied looking girl an decided they needed to leave. Again.  
„Nevermind that, we need to go!“  
They both went around her and ran out onto the corridor.  
And really, as far as Percy’s luck went, this day actually turned out pretty good. After all, there was a teacher walking along the hallway. Percy ran right up to him, ignoring Grover who tried to tug him into a different direction.  
„Sir?“ Percy came to stand next to the man and pasted a slightly scared look in his face.  
„Is something wrong?“  
Percy nodded, silently grageful for all the times he watched Annabeth and the way she always twisted situations when talking to teachers as it suited her. His girl... ex-girlfriend really looked beautiful when she was manipulating people. Being proactive was kind of the key to it, when his first instinct was always to distance himself from situations.  
„Sir, we we’re in the bathroom, and then this girl came in and tried to hit Grover here,“ he pointed to the still scared looking satyr, „but instead she hit a tap an now water is all over the place!“ he tried to look guilty, which wasn’t that hard. It had been him after all. „I’m so sorry about that!“  
The teacher looked at him, furrowed brows putting the frown into stark relief. „Well, for one I am very grateful that you didn’t start more of a situation. Run along now, I‘ll handle it, though someone might want to ask you two some questions later, Mr?“  
„Percy Jackson, sir.“  
He sighed in relief. It was working.  
„Very well Mr. Jackson, we will see each other later. But well done for avoiding a confrontation.“  
The man turned on his heel and went into the bathroom, oblivious to Percy’s somewhat proud expression. Then he caught Grover’s eyes and the smile vanished.  
“What’s wrong?”  
The Satyr stared at him, expression unreadable.  
“We need to talk.”  
Then, in a complete reversal of their earlier interactions, Grover pulled him along until they found an unoccupied room. He kept shooting glances at Percy too, and when Percy’s brain stopped panicking he figured he should probably play anxious. Only, as his staccato heartbeat reminded him, he didn’t need to pretend.  
This was his best friend. And Grover didn’t know him yet and that meant that everything, their whole friendship, was on the line here. If Percy messed up he would loose one of the people closest to him.  
And while he followed that train of thought, he still didn’t know how to play this. He was eleven, he shouldn’t know about dad yet, he wasn’t even supposed to be able to control his powers.  
And he couldn’t think much about it, because suddenly they were in a dark-ish room and Grover was standing on front of him, almost vibrating with nervous energy.  
Percy twisted his fingers together.  
„So... what’s up?“ he cringed at his own words. Grover almost jumped in the air, looking more agitated than Percy had seen him in a looong time.  
„What did you do back there!?“  
„What do you mean?“ playing defensive was instinct, really.  
„The water, man! You totally made the water hit Nancy in the face!“  
„You saw that?“ Percy didn’t know where that exclamation had come from. It had just slipped out. But actually... he tried to look suspicious.  
„No one ever sees that!“  
Heureka, as Annabeth would say. Now Grover had to explain!  
And he seemed to realise that too. Poor kid, he looked like he had just done something unbelievably stupid, and Percy kind of wanted to give him a tin can to chew on.  
"So what‘s going on here?“  
Percy sat down on one of the tables, facing Grover and waiting to see how Grover would do this. The poor guy looked somewhat overwhelmed.  
„Right...,“ Grover cleared his throat „so you can do stuff?“  
Percy stared at him for a second and nodded.  
„Yeah. I found out a few days ago, but I didn’t mean to show anyone...“ he winced at the lie „but I kinda can’t control it when I get angry.“  
Grover looked like he couldn’t believe how he got into these situations. When he didn’t seem to start speaking again, Percy decided to get this over with a bit bigger.  
„Do you know what’s going on?“ he asked, and shrugged at Grover‘s stare „It’s just that you don’t seem that surprised.“  
The way Grover shuffled his feet never looked quite right, and Percy was hard pressed not to smile at that.  
„Yeah.... just... don’t freak out, please.“  
Percy cocked an eyebrow. Grover didn’t really know how to deal with children, did he? „...alright?“  
Grober nodded. „Okay. So... you can control water? Have you’ve learned about the Greek Gods already?“  
Percy was sure he actually hadn’t, but it wasn’t like Grover knew that.  
„I think so, probably in my second to last school or something.“  
„Did you change a lot of schools?“  
Percy smiled bitterly. He still felt pretty shitty about that.  
„This is the sixth school in six years. So, yeah.“  
That managed to make Grover relax somewhat, his shoulders lowering as he leant back against the desk behind him.  
„Have you heard about the half gods? Like, Hercules was zeus‘s child and half god half human?“  
Percy nodded. „Sure. I think we covered that.“  
„It still happens.“  
Percy gave him a look. Really, that’s how he started explaining?  
Grover held up his hands.  
„Hear me out, hear me out.“  
And Grover did look like he could really use a break, so Percy pulled his legs up until he sat legged on the table and shrugged.  
“Sure.”


	4. Too good too be true... oh wait, there‘s the rub

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> everything works out almost too well. unless you count ominous Deja-Vús as bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things:   
> 1\. GUYS. omg, THANK YOU SO MUCH for all the kudos and the bookmarks and the comments. It means the world to me, that you like it!  
> 2\. and I’m really sorry I haven‘t updated in a while. It’s been a bit of a horrid time in RL and the summer job I took sucked the life out of me. I’ll try to be consistent again from now on. This chapter would have been published next Tuesday, but I didn’t want to make you wait even longer. As is, the next chapter will be out the Tuesday after next week. And then it’s back to the normal schedule. 
> 
> Again, thank you so much.   
> And... the plot will start up soon too, this is at most a taste. 
> 
> I hope you like it!   
> Cherio!!!
> 
> PS. I don’t have a laptop atm, but I promise to fix any mistakes and britishisms I can find when I do! Please do point them out though, if you find any, and I’ll fix them ASAP.   
> Lots of Love,   
> Tia.

He tried listening to Grover, he really did. But he had lived through what Grover was trying to explain (badly) and listened with half an ear at most, until he comes to the deal the gods made about the big three.   
Then he paid more attention, wondering if Grover was going to draw the parallel.   
He did, and stopped to stare at Percy with big eyes, teeth worrying his lower lip.   
Percy looked at him. “What? The ‚big three’,” he made air quotes at that, because he was kind of eleven years old and he was going to do what he liked, dam it, “won’t have children? So there were other sea gods, right? And nereids? Maybe one of those is my dad?”  
Grover relaxed back against the table and Percy smiled. Really, it was far fetched because he knew what his extended family was like, but Grover, and everyone else too, probably, would accept that if only to not have to think about the conflict that would arise otherwise. Annabeth had told him once how most of them had hoped he wouldn’t be Poseidon’s. They had fought about it, but he knew it was true. Maybe he needed to talk to Poseidon, make sure he wouldn’t claim him, or not yet, at least.   
“Yeah. That’s... that’s probably the case.” Grover was struggling with words and by now, Percy decided, he could really be just done with that. The inactivity was clawing at his nerves. It was taking too long. His eleven year old self would have started combusting ages ago.   
“So what happens now?”   
Grover looked at him, lips pursed, and shrugged.   
“We need to get you to Camp. You’ll broadcast your location because you know who you are now... we have to go.”  
Percy slid of the table.   
“Okay. Then I’ll get some stuff from my room? Wanna come with?”   
Grover nodded, something Percy had counted on, and made his way towards the dorms. The problem with his mom was bugging him, but he did need to get to camp. And he couldn’t really explain to Grover that he wanted to go do in Medusa for fun before doing so.   
No, better to get there fast. He could always make a trip after he got there... he knew how to sneak around after all.   
In his dorm, Percy upturned his backpack on the bed and started packing essentials. It took him about ten minutes, including changing out of the uniform. He had had enough practice packing for quests after all.   
Even so, it seemed like it was too long for Grovers peace of mind. The satyr was shuffling his feet like a nervous Pegasus, and it did nothing for Percy’s mental state, which made him start to worry about the trip to camp almost as much as Grover probably was. The day had gone by without a hitch (by his standard at least) and his luck had to have run out by now.   
Then he was done, shouldering his backpack and clutching the tiny stash of pocket money he had found in a pocket.   
He remembered his mom doing that sometimes: hiding money in his clothes for him to find later.   
His fingers momentarily clenched as he remembered again that she wasn’t safe at that moment. She was at the mercy of Gabe and he couldn’t do shit about it. Not without endangering Grover. Or without riptide.   
They walked out of the school like it was the typical thing to do, Grover probably because he wouldn’t realise that it wasn’t actually the done thing in boarding school and Percy.... well, Percy was much to focussed on getting all this over with, to worry about whether or not he was screwing with rules big time.   
The hairs on the back of his neck tingled as he looked around them, almost certain some kind of monster was going to come by very, very soon to mess up everything. This couldn’t work out that smoothly, could it?   
But they made it to the nearby street without incident, and turned towards the bus stop. Percy felt like an actor in a scripted scene, walking towards the bus stop JUST as the bus made its way there. No complications, nothing. He paid for Grover and himself, back to Manhattan, and he knew this was almost exactly like the last time he had done so - a lifetime ago.   
The fates had to have something to do with this.   
This made it somewhat less surprising when he actually did see three old ladies in white. The bus was slowly inching past roadwork, and Percy on the other side stared out of the window to find the fates sitting there. But they weren’t knitting socks. It was a blanket, worked on from two sides, and multicoloured, as far as he could see from the murky window. But still, he could make out how the thread they were working on right then was blue.   
The fates, Luke’s body between them, flashed before his eyes.   
The cut blue thread.   
Then the knitting needles came to a halt, as if blocked, and one of the fates held up a tangled piece of thread. His throat constricted, heart hammering as another took out the scissors that had haunted his nightmares a few times before. But they didn’t cut it. Instead, they started picking at the tangle, and only sometimes looking at the scissors while they worked.   
The message, as far as prophesies and all the mythical stuff Percy had gotten to see before went, was clear, especially when all three of them looked up, staring at him while one picked up the scissors.  
And the bus picked up speed and went past the ominous picture the three woman made as they started to laugh.   
“Hey, are you ok?”  
Grover stared at him from the side, head tilted in worry, and Percy bit the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling to widely.   
He felt like he was meeting a friend he hadn’t seen in years, even though it had been two weeks for him.   
Tiny Grover was kind of adorable.   
“I’m good. Just a bit anxious.”   
“Ok then!”   
Percy’s stomach dropped. The reminder hurt. This Grover wasn’t his best friend, didn’t even know him. And at most he considered him a friendly job assignment, not a friend he had spend a year with at school.   
He would need to really make an effort to get them back to where they were. If he had learned anything at all as a demigod, it was that he could not do everything alone. Especially when it came to matters that were of personal importance.   
And he couldn't do all those things that now flashed through his mind without his first best friend.


End file.
